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“No, you don’t. You flew straight down just to frighten me.”
“Fine. It was a little on purpose.”
“Bad dragon,” she growls, and I feel another laugh glowing in my chest. I hold it in this time.
As we glide over the wall into the courtyard where the other human women are gathered, the Princess makes a sound so full of delight and longing that my heart twinges with guilt at not letting her see her people sooner.
She slides off my back before I’ve found my footing. The redhead approaches her first, and when she bows, the rest of the women follow her lead.
“Princess Serylla,” says the redhead.
So my captive’s name is Serylla. I’ve never heard her mentioned as anything but “the Crown Princess.”
Serylla. It’s a good name, with music in it. It will serve her well when she takes dragon form.
“I’m so glad to see you all.” Serylla reaches out both hands to the women. “Please don’t bow. Here, we are the same. Are you well?”
“Well enough, considering,” replies the redhead. She glances past Serylla, straight at me. Her look is a challenge.
“What is your name?” I ask her.
Serylla whips around, frowning, and it occurs to me that I never asked about her name.
“I am Jessiva,” the redhead answers. “Your Highness.” She dips her head, a faint acknowledgement of my title.
“Call me Kyreagan.” I keep my eye on Serylla to see how she reacts to my display of obvious preference for the redhead, Jessiva.
Serylla meets my gaze, then glances away, her lips pressed tightly together as if she’s holding back sharp words.
A shadow falls over the courtyard, and my brother drops into its center, landing near Jessiva. Holding my gaze, the redhead takes one step backward, closer to my brother’s shoulder.
So she prefers him. Fair enough.
For his part, Varex looks surprised. He glances from me to Jessiva, but he only says, “Ashvelon and Fortunix have returned.”
A bolt of excitement flares through my body. “And were they successful in their mission?”
“Yes. They await us in Ashvelon’s cave.”
I turn to Serylla, who is watching us both with furrowed brows and folded arms. “This is my brother, Varex. He and I are leaving now. Eat, rest, and speak to your people. I will return later.”
“Don’t hurry back,” she snaps, an echo of what she said to me yesterday evening, when I went out to hunt.
I want to hiss at her, but since we’re in the presence of others, I restrain myself. With a mighty lunge, I bound into the air and rise with powerful wingbeats, taking a vengeful delight as the wind of my ascent whips her hair across her face and makes her stagger back a step.
Varex joins me in the air. “What was that about?”
“The Princess hates me. She would rather not be around me.”
“Jessiva hates me too… sometimes.”
“And sometimes not?”
“It’s difficult to say.”
I steal a sideways glance at him. There’s a brightness in his eye, a buoyant joy in his wingbeats.
“You can tell me anything,” I say.
